Food TV

Thanksgiving was a success. Bewteen Alton Brown’s brined turkey, and stuffing (granted with a few modifications)and Garlic Mashers, Paula Deen’s Pumpkin Roll Cake, Tyler Florence’s Ultimate Apple Pie, Broccoli, Cauliflower Carrots, with Parmesan Bread crumbs, and a plain old fashioned Turkey Pan Gravy, we had more than enough to eat. Especially adding in the frozen pumpkin & Pecan pies, brown & serve rolls, and of course, Ocean Spray Cranberry Jelly… Oh yeah, and the ham and yams that the Hubby made. Wow, that’s a lot of food. I know that I said all of the recipes would be from Good Eats, but as it turns out, the show didn’t provide the full variety of dishes that I wanted to serve, but the Food Network Website has an amazing selection of dishes, and a wonderful recipe box feature. Each of the recipes were put together in one place, easy to find, and follow…

So, how easy were the recipes to prepare? And how did they turn out? And most importantly, what did the family think? Well, here’s a recipe by recipe review, of all of the savory dishes, and the review or the desserts is next!!!

Of course, we’ll start with the brined Turkey. The brine itself was really easy to prepare, although I’m sure I didn’t use enough salt. The recipe called for a callon of vegetable stock, but I used water instead and forgot to compensate for the sodium in the stock. Nonetheless, the turkey came out really moist and delicious, and here even 2 days later is still tender and flavorful. Once I got it out of the brine and rinsed, I got to put in the stuffing.

The stuffing that Alton made on Good Eats, when he finally conceded that stuffing, perhaps, is not evil, looked pretty good, so I used that as the base for my recipe. I did make a couple adjustments though. Mushrooms creep me out, and nobody in my house is a fan of bell peppers, so I replaced them. The mushrooms were easily replaced by the heart, liver, and neck meat of the turkey. And instead of a traditional “trinity” with the bell peppers, I switched it up to a mirepoix, using carrots instead. As for the bread, the recipe called for Challah bread, but I couldn’t find that, and my whole family loves sourdough, so I used that instead. For stuffing, I have to sat it turned out pretty darn good. Although I am not a super huge fan of stuffing, the whole soggy bread thing grosses me out. But those in my family that are fans of stuffing loved it. They said it was the best stufing they had ever had, and that’s saying a lot…

The roasting of the turkey couldn’t have been easier. Although I did place the probe of my new, fantastic, probe thermometer a bit too close to the surface and it claimed it was done after only an hour and a half. I proclaimed it a liar, and put it in deeper into the breast meat. A more reasonable couple hours later and it was really done. And while it was resting I put in the veggies.

The broccoli/cauliflower/carrots with parmesan bread crumbs was really easy to make. It only took a couple minutes to brown up the bread crumbs and cheese, and put it all on the veggies that were all nice and steamed. Even better, I forgot about them in the oven and left them in for at least 10 minutes longer than I should have, and they didn’t burn or overcook or anything. It’s almost like the crumbs worked as a protectant for the veggies. Hooray!!!

The Garlic Mashers were AWESOME!!! Although, next time I make them I am going to crush the garlic first. Whilst I really enjoyed munching on whloe cloves of garlic, I can’t say the same was true of the rest of my family. Plus the act of crushing the garlic will release a lot of it’s flavor. The gravy, on the other hand didn’t turn out really well at all. Well, the flavor was awesome, but I didn’t follow through on the directions. Turns out it REALLY IS necessary to seperate out the grease from the drippings. So instead of gravy, I got a really tasty turkey oil soup… It still went well on the potatoes, as I said the flavor was fantastic, but it was by no means gravy. Heehee, live and learn, I suppose.

So, how did the family like it? My mom has crowned me the Queen of Thanksgiving. My dad said the turkey was better than any he had ever made. I was showered in compliments all evening long. I couldn’t have wished for it to turn out better. Next year though, Dad and I will be working together. Now that my family has the confidence that I can do more than peel potatoes, Dad and I can put out a feast to end all feasts next year!!!

A scant 90 minutes before the third episode of the Next Iron Chef, I am finally sitting down to review the second one. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy the episode, as a matter of fact I thought that the challenges were very telling of the type of chef’s that we are dealing with.

In the first challenge the Chairman stated that a great meal always begins with a single bite. He then instructed the potentials to put every thing that they are about in a dish that was only one bite. Just as Alton Brown was about to let everyone go to the ingredients he got a phone call. The contestants were to make 6 plates of their one bite dishes. And then it began. There was a flurry of ingredients and tools everywhere. All to soon AB was counting down the seconds, and all of the chef’s had plated 6 beautiful, tiny dishes. All that is, except one. Chef Sanchez continued messing with his plates long after time up was called, and even then, only had one dish actually plated. His confusion? He thought they would be able to plate later as they seem to do on the other challenges. Now, I would allow this, except for a couple things… First of all every other chef understood perfectly well what they were supposed to do. The rules were in no way unclear. Second of all, this is not the first time. In only two episodes, and three challenges, we have seen Chef Sanchez continue on his dishes after time up is called twice. He doesn’t seem to understand the concept of a time limit, and that irritates me beyond belief. I am a strong believer in rules when it comes to competition, and I think he should be eliminated out an out if it happens again. He hasn’t been strongly cautioned by AB yet, but I think it’s coming. I hope so anyway!!!

Once we finish listening to his little temper tantrum about how he doesn’t think it’s fair that he can’t finish, we find out why they were making six dishes in the first place. In this challenge, titled Simplicity, they are judging each other. After they have tasted each others dishes, each is to votre for the one they thing expressed themselves wholly, in one single bite. Chef Sanchez, of course, cannot win this challenge. Having only completed one dish it’s mathematically impossible. However his bite was eaten by Chef Besh, who says it’s a good thing he didn’t finish all the plates… Chef Symon, however, is voted by his peers to be the winner.

We return from the commercial to fabulous Kitchen 5 which is just chock full of strange and wonderful kitchen implements. Things that even these world class chef’s had never seen. As well as jars and jars of chemicals. Things like xanthan gum, and methocellulose. You know, all those things on the back of so many ingredient lists that most of us are clueless about. Who knew that people actually cooked with that stuff? And liquid nitrogen for goodness’ sake!!! The tools were just ans interesting and innovative. As a matter of fact the challenge associated with them? Innovation. There is first 90 minutes of learning how to use the ingredients and tools like the vacuum sealer, smoker, and a clever device called an Anti-Griddle. Like a griddle, except instead of super hot, it runs at minus 30 degrees and freezes liquids into cute little patties very quickly. Then is the actual challenge. The chef’s are to create dishes using at least 2 chemicals, and at least 3 devices. Chef Symon gets his very own kitchen station fully stocked as well as the chance to raid the buffet before everyone else. Chef Davie seems to have fallen in love with the liquid nitrogen, and made a strange dish she called the freezo-frito, in which she nitrogen froze some slices of citrus fruit, and some other random stuff, and topped it with some ugly brown fried thing. It was certainly innovative, but she missed the point that it has to be both innovative AND edible… oooooohhh…edible too you say?

The masterpiece of the evening was Chef Cosentino’s Razor Clams with Saoir “shaving cream”. Innovative, witty, tasty, all around a winner. Which is why he won!!! I am going to make an early prediction here and say that our next Iron Chef America is going to be Chef Cosentino. He has an excellent attitude, and is quite comfortable using the strange array of ingredients that we often find to be the secret ingredient. The loser of the evening was of course Chef Jill Davie, who while very nice, just couldn’t quite get it… I look forward to seeing episode 3: Resourcefulness. And I promise the review of that will come BEFORE next Sunday…

Everybody loves the fast paced excitement of Iron Chef America. The talent and showmanship of the four people that hold the proud title Iron Chef cannot be denied. Food Network has decided to play up the success of the Next Food Network Star, by creating another Survivor style reality show. Finding one more chef to stand beside Bobby Flay, Cat Cora, Mario Batali, and Matsuhara Morimoto in Kitchen Stadium.

The first episode of Next Iron Chef was very good. It’s main focus was speed and artistry. Narrated by the versatile Food Network personality Alton Brown, the show was quick paced and intelligent. After having met our contestants, we got right into the competition.
The first of the two competitions showcased speed and skill. The contestants had a mere 15 minutes to de-bone a whole chicken, fillet a salmon, french a rack of lamb, husk 6 bivalves, get 2 cups of milk out of coconuts, and slice a piece of vegetation that I can’t quite place, nor remember the name of into four slices thin enough to read a newspaper through
The first group of four chefs managed to get through the challenge pretty well. Although Chef Cosentino, who brags that he is happy to cook with what most people are all to eager to throw away, completely ignored Alton Brown’s repeated hints that perhaps he should remove the bones and fins from the salmon that he filleted. When the second team came up, however, we were blown away by the speed and efficiency of Chef Morou. That is until he noticed that somewhere between the chicken, salmon, and lamb that he managed to get to within the first three minutes of the competition, he had sliced his finger open. He was bleeding all over the place. Still he was the first to finish the entire challenge, with quite a bit of time left to spare.
On the judging of the challenge we found that while Chef Morou may have been the fastest of the lot, he was not the most accurate. That honor, and the first “reward” of the series went to a competitor that until then I hadn’t really noticed. He cut cleanly and quickly and ended up with the full 75 points. A feat that not one of the other competitors accomplished. And that was Chef Aaron Sanchez.
For the second half of the show, the elimination challenge, the Chairman had a “sweet tooth”. Alton explained to the competitors that they were to make 2 world class desserts in 90 minutes. One a classic dessert of their choosing. The twist? They could not use, butter or sugar. And if they wanted cheese, they would have to make it themselves. The second dessert would be made of something savory. Chef Sanchez, having won the first challenge, got to choose first and decided on Duck Confit. The rest of the competitors made their choices, and Chef Cosentino surprised everyone by picking tripe. Even though he was only the third to choose, and there were plenty of other things on the table. Apparently he really means it when he says he will cook with anything! The chefs were then split into two groups once again and prepared their desserts. Although there were a few technical difficulties in the kitchen, probably due to the extraordinary amount of people and heat in there, everything went smoothly.
The judging was quick and painless. Chef Besh impressed with “Catfish Three Ways”. The catfish and grape truffle was the most astounding of the three. He also made a bread pudding with bananas foster, and the judges commented on how rich and tasty it was even though he did not use butter. He easily won, and chef Cosentino’s tripe was good enough to have him called back as well. Unfortunately Chef Des Jardins was not as good with her salmon roe, and was the first to be sent home. Perhaps because when asked if she did anything with the salmon roe, her response was a sharp “I rinsed it”.
Who will be the Next Iron Chef? I will be tuning in, and I hope you will too!!!

I first learned about Formaggio Kitchen because they were featured on Food Network. They are based out of Cambridge, Massachusetts where they specialize in offering gourmet foods from around the world at some of the most reasonable prices that I have ever seen, especially online. I knew from the minute I checked their website that I wanted to work with them. Everything looks so amazing I figured if they let me sample any item in their store I would be happy.

Tim, one of the great people at Formaggio got back to me and we went over some possibilities. I will be doing some future reviews, but for now we started with some breakfast foods. Tim had suggested various items including organic maple syrup, buckwheat pancake mix, and fresh bacon. I thought it would be a nice idea to add everything together and create a breakfast feast and that is exactly what I did.

The breakfast started with Grateful Ed’s Roasted Buckwheat Pancake Mix. Grateful Ed’s is based out of Chagrin Falls, Ohio. In the package, this pancake mix appears to be like any other mix you might find in a grocery store. I wasn’t sure if I would like these pancakes in the beginning. I was curious, but I wasn’t sure about the idea of the roasted buckwheat mix. Add that into the fact that I am admittedly not a huge pancake fan and I was skeptical. Before I get into my thoughts, I will move on and let you know about the organic maple syrup that was the topping for these pancakes.

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Do you remember how I was raving about Breadwinner and their Papa Don’t Peach bread they sent me to review? Well, now I have the chance to rave some more. With a nice little note thanking me for my review, I was sent the most delicious, mouthwatering bread I have ever tasted! I thought I would write another review to let the Breadwinner team know just how much I love their bread. In fact, if I were to move any place in the world simply for their food, it would be Atlanta because of companies like the Breadwinner Baking Company, Sweet Auburn Bread Company, and Dreamland BBQ.

Breadwinner is a family owned business that was started by Wendy Melkonian, her brother Geoff, and sister-in-law Katie. The unique flavors, moistness of the bread, and freshness are incredibly appealing. As I mentioned before, it is more like cake then bread, and everybody in the house devoured the loaf in record time! Dominick, the person who dislikes bread the most, ate a huge piece and asked for seconds. He had to fight off Robert for the last piece, but seeing as Robert is smaller and Dom doesn’t really need the extra calories like Robert does, Robert won. It says a lot that the pickiest eaters in the house fought over it though.

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Rounding out my Road Tasted Atlanta reviews is Dreamland Barbecue. Jamie and Bobby went to the restaurant in Atlanta and not only got to taste the ribs, but they got to help cook them, as well. I have to admit with that gigantic mop going into the wood burning pit, it looked kind of fun. Unfortunately, my kitchen doesn’t have one of those, but I managed without it because of all the hard work that was done for me.

I received a large box from Dreamland that included everything I could have wanted and more. When I spoke to the representative for the company, I was not sure what she was sending. Many of the restaurants will send whatever aired on Food Network. In that case, I was expecting a slab of ribs, some of their famous barbecue sauce, white bread, and some wet naps.

Well, I did receive all of that, but I also received a pound of pulled pork, a package of smoked sausage, some house dressing (good on meat, fries, and salads), a Southern pecan pie, and a barbecue pack that included an adorable oven mitt (it looks like a little piggy), a t-shirt, and some tongs. Needless to say, I was quite impressed and flattered before the food came anywhere near my mouth. (more…)

This weekend I had a chance to sample Sweet Auburn Bread Company’s Sweet Potato Cheesecake. I originally saw this on Road Tasted when the Deen boys were in Atlanta tasting the best foods in ATL. Chef Sonya and her marvelous cheesecake was one of their three stops. I recently got in touch with Chef Sonya and she was nice enough to send me one for review and to offer one to my readers if they enter to win a free sweet potato cheesecake of their own.

The cheesecake arrived in your standard temperature controlled box. This allowed the cheesecake to stay cold with the icepack on top but not to freeze. Once taking it out of the box and opening the bakery box I was left with a standard eight or nine inch cheesecake that was a beautiful orange color on top. It looked delicious and you could smell this lovely aroma of cinnamon almost immediately. So, within minutes I was grabbing plates and divvying up pieces to the collective critics in the Evans house.

I was sold on this from the very first bite. I’m not always the biggest pie eater in the world because I’m not a fan of crust. This is probably why I love cheesecake so much. More often than not, you’re dealing with a graham cracker crust. This sweet potato cheesecake moves beyond the crust though and offers you a moist and beautiful pound cake base. The base is incredibly thin and melts in your mouth. The texture it adds to the cheesecake layer is amazing because it’s just so fluid. It goes together much better than I imagined it would. I knew the combination sounded amazing, but I expected it to be much richer, and was pleasantly surprised when I found how subtle yet flavorful it really was. (more…)

I made this last night for Dominick and myself to try. Dom loves soup, but isn’t overly fond of uncooked onions or cheddar. I, on the other hand, am addicted to cheese with cheddar one of my favorite kinds. Oddly enough, I have never had cheddar soup and Dominick is a lover of cheesy Walkabout Soup from Outback. Not knowing how similar this soup would be to the Walkabout Soup, but knowing he wanted some kind of soup for supper, I decided to give this a try.

All I can say is Wow! Dom went crazy for the soup. He tried a small bowl and wanted seconds. I was told “This is so good, Ash! It tastes like Walkabout Soup, only better!”

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Breadwinner is an amazing bakery that is based in Atlanta, Georgia. I first learned about them late one night when I was watching Road Tasted. The Deen Boys visited three places in Atlanta and by the luck of the cards I will be reviewing all three places for you. Breadwinner is the first of the three. On the show, Jamie and Bobby sampled two of the Breadwinner Breads. On their lineup was Papa Don’t Peach, which is what I’ve had a chance to sample, and Party at My Place Pumpkin, which is due out in October.

The bread arrived this afternoon and I was greeted with an adorably packaged product when I got it out of the shipping box. Each loaf of bread comes in its own cardboard loaf container and is wrapped in cellophane. The cellophane is wrapped with ribbon that is tied in a bow. It’s so cute. It’s like getting your own little present. Of course, you have no idea what you’re going to get when you unwrap your present to taste your bread.

Before I say too much, I will say three things before giving my complete review. First, I am not a huge bread fan. I like it, but I don’t love it. Next, I have never been to Atlanta. Finally, I’ve never had peach bread before. All of that being said, if all of Atlanta’s cuisine was as good as Breadwinner’s Papa Don’t Peach, I would move. In fact, I would move tomorrow. (more…)